Banyana Banyana to face Malawi this weekend for WAFCON build up

JOHANNESBURG - Banyana Banyana will face Malawi this weekend at UJ Soweto Campus on Saturday.

“We do not have control over who the opponents (Malawi) select as part of their team. We will prepare the way we prepare. Malawi have shown (their mettle) at COSAFA and have grown really well,” said Coach Desiree Ellis.

The series will see Nompumelelo Nyandeni earn her 150th cap. Only Janine van Wyk (185) and Noko Matlou (173) have more caps than her.

“They’ve shown that they’re a force to be reckoned with. They’ve shown their physicality and how they’ve evolved. They can play without their big players, and we’re going to take nothing for granted,” said Ellis.

The two-match series will be Noko ‘Beep-Beep’ Matlou’s farewell as the veteran will be retiring from international football.

The Limpopo-born player in 2008 became the first South African, male or female, to be crowned CAF African Footballer of the Year award after winning the COSAFA Cup in Angola, where she was joint top goal scorer and player of the tournament.

That same year, Banyana Banyana went on to play in the African Women’s Championship where she was again a joint top goal scorer and joint player of the tournament.

In 2022, she was part of the team that won the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations and helped Banyana to a historic 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup Last 16 appearances.

Following the Saturday match, Banyana will return to UJ Soweto Campus on Tuesday as part of their build-up to the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in July.